IT Marketing World

Who Do You Trust? Industry Analysts Reign Supreme

A SiriusDecisions survey recently examined which IT sources are trusted most by buyers during the buying lifecycle, and the results indicate not surprisingly that Industry Analysts and Peers are the most influential and trusted sources of information.

In an age of information overload, over 30% higher than years past, the research indicates that buyers are trying to find ways to cut through the noise and get help to solve their specific problems / personalized advice and references that proposed solutions will deliver true value.

The least credible source not surprisingly was vendors themselves, pointing to the need for vendors to:

1. Receive third party validation and leverage content, especially from trusted analysts and pundits
2. Use social media such as blogs that contain advice and peer communities and groups to gain more trust

The survey results are summarized in the report, “SiriusDecisions B-to-B Buyer’s Survey 2010,” and is based on an online survey of more than 600 b-to-b marketers conducted in April and May. The research was presented for the first time at the SiriusDecisions 2010 Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

This research was an important follow-on to a survey in 2006, the latest research examining sources of information IT buyers consider during different stages of the buying process and the influence of each on their purchase decision.

Analysts are Most Trusted

The most trusted sources of information overall are industry analysts (cited by 31.4% of respondents) and peers (28.7%).

The influence of vendors as a trusted source of information has also increased, from only 3.3% of buyers who cited them as a trusted source in 2006 to 8.1% this year, but remains dramatically lower on the trust scale than other sources.

In the early stage of the buying lifecycle, the most influential sources of information for IT buyers are internal events or triggers (cited by 31.1% of respondents), peers (24%), industry analysts (15.6%) and trade publications (13.3%). Search engine results were cited by only 4.4% as trusted sources; consultants, by only 2.2%.

The most favored sources of content during the early stages of IT decision-making are white papers (64.4%), peer referrals (51.1%), webinars (48.9%), trials or demos (42.2%) and analyst reports (37.8%), the survey found. Buyers are looking for diagnostic advice and ideas, and white papers as well as executive assessment tools provide a foundation today for early decision making.

In the middle stages of buying, the most influential sources are peers (22.7%), industry analysts (15.9%), trade publications (15.9%), vendors (11.4%) and internal events (11.4%). Notably, the influence of vendors in the middle stage has gone up since 2006, when they were cited as a trusted source by only 3.5% of buyers.

In the late stages of decision-making, the most trusted sources are peers (28.9%), industry analysts (20.0%), trade publications (11.1%), consultants (8.9%) and search engine results (8.9%). From these results, it would appear that peer comparisons and personalized benchmarks could be a great help in guiding decisions and winning trust in these later buying stages.

Vendor Brightspot?

When vendors deliver unique independent, and personalized advice, connections are made and trust gained. SiriusDecisions points to blogs as one way to break through.

“Buyers are willing to have engagement with vendors if they can bring very valuable content,” Neeson said. He pointed to Chuck’s Blog, written by Chuck Hollis, VP-global marketing and chief technology officer at IT company EMC, who blogs on topics such as virtual storage and cloud computing.